Hey guys, I apologize for the small hiatus I took. Due to personal issues, it was difficult to finish this but here it is! I'll try to get the next one out much quicker! This time I don't have an excuse :P

Also: A brief warning to those reading. Theres vague mentioning of previous events in Virgnia's life involving non-emotional sex. I haven't added any trigger warnings because there is no direct mention of non-consensual sex, but if you are extremely sensitive to these situations, then I just wanted to bring this to your attention.

_ Chapter 7 _

He could tell by the way she moved the following morning, she was in a much happier mood than usual. There was a subtle bounce in her step, and her eyes seemed brighter. She was practically dancing around the kitchen, when Andy entered the room, with a beautiful smile across her lips.

As soon she saw him stroll in with his pyjamas and robe still on, she left the pan of bacon for a moment to kiss him good morning. She allowed their lips to linger longer than usual, without insinuating she wanted a repeat of the evening before too soon.

She nearly took his breath away, leaving him with only a few seconds to spare before he would have been taking her again in the kitchen. "Well good morning to you too, Ms. Dixon."

She gave him a crooked smile, before returning to the frying pan on the stove.

He pulled out the bar stool and began eating his egg whites and toast with jam that she had ready for him. Usually she'd join him in simply having eggs and toast, but today was a particularly good day and she decided to treat herself.

His hand rested on her hip as he motioned for her to join him. "You must have gotten up early to make all this. Did you sleep alright?"

Without a doubt, the unforgettable night they'd shared was mutually doted on, but he still had the small fear that she'd regret consummating their relationship too soon. He'd touched her soft and slowly, careful not to rush into anything. And after, he'd wrapped her up and held her until her breathing steadied and sleep overcame her. At one point in the evening, she'd woken him with her hushed mumbling, but it didn't seem like she was having nightmare, so he'd dismissed it and fell back to sleep.

She covered his hand with her own. "I slept wonderfully, thank you."

Ever since she'd woke up, she couldn't stop reliving every second they'd shared. She remembered how alive she'd felt. She couldn't possibly put into words how much it had meant to her; not just the sex but all the emotion it had fostered.

She'd had sex before, but it was never making love. Her first time had been rushed and made her feel awkward and anxious. She always felt like she wasn't giving enough of herself to them, even when they were taking way more than what she wanted to give. She thought it was the right thing to do in a relationship. You go out, you start feeling things and then you sleep together, but being with Andy didn't put that pressure on her. When he'd made love to her, she actually felt all the pressure in her life lift right off her chest

She spread some butter across her toast, before taking a small bite. "I didn't want to say anything last night and wreck the mood," he began, setting down his crust, "but you're fine with what happened, right?"

"Last night was more than fine." Her fingers smoothed over the back of his hand. "I promise you that I feel no remorse whatsoever."

He felt relieved to hear she wasn't feeling guilty. He wasn't expecting her to want to jump right back into bed with her the day after their first encounter, but he certainly enjoyed their first time and hoped there would be a second to follow. It had been exhilarating to Andy, seeing a whole new side to Virginia unfold in front of him. A side that she evidently didn't share with many people. He couldn't help but dream of the next time he'd be able to run his hands over her bare skin and kiss the softness of her neck that had pushed her over the edge every time.

She poured herself a glass of orange juice, from the carton between them and played with the remaining crust in her hands. "I hope you weren't disappointed." Her face blushed red, as she searched for the right words. "I haven't… I'm not very good with sexual cues."

"Virginia, disappointment is the very last word I would use to describe last night. Last night was incredible. You are incredible."

She couldn't help but blush. She reached over and stole a piece of his crust, bringing it to her mouth quickly.

He pretended to be angry about it, making her giggle at his foolishness. She swallowed and stuck her tongue out at him, mocking him. He was plotting his revenge when his pager started going off in the bedroom. Andy sighed, getting up from his seat and running off down the hall to check it.

He returned a few minutes later, in uniform and ready to head off to another crime scene. Virginia had already began cleaning up their breakfast, his things laid out for him on the counter. "I'm sorry, I-"

She rolled her eyes and handed him his briefcase. "Don't apologize." She stood on the balls of her feet and met his lips. "Go save lives, Andy. I'll be here when you get home."

He grabbed his things off the counter and tucked his gun into the holster on his hip before making his way out the door.

_AC_

Andy always hated the hospital. It was always such a sad, busy and depressing place to be. He sat in the waiting room next to his partner, waiting for his commanding officer to return. It was almost as torturous as desk duty. The suspect had taken such a brutal blow to the head, she'd been passed out for the past hour. They were starting to fear that she wouldn't wake up. Andy was trying to be patient and focus more on the health of his victim than the resolve of their case, Provenza of course had stopped showing compassion long before. The long sighs and rolling of eyes were starting to really get on Andy's nerves.

After what felt like days to the detectives, they were finally able to interview their victim. It had been a long and tedious process getting all the details, domestic abuse always being an extremely touchy subject. They hadn't gotten very much from the young woman, when she asked to take a break and they gladly complied, deciding to call it enough for one day.

He left the young woman and returned to the waiting room, where he found Virginia sitting on one of the couches, a sandwich and bottle of sparkling water in her lap. "What are you doing down here?"

She rose to her feet, unwrapping the grilled cheese sandwich. "I finished early and I saw Chief Johnson leaving so I thought I'd see if you were still around." She held her hand out, offering it to him. "I figured you hadn't eaten yet, so I brought you some food."

He kissed the top of her head and took the sandwich from her hand. "Have I told you how much I love you lately?"

She pretended to think about it, while he devoured the only thing he'd ate since a half sized salad at lunch. She knew the man like the back of her hand and if one thing was sure, vegetarian sandwiches were definitely the way to his heart. That and her homemade brownies.

"Do you wanna head home now?"

Based on the way he was nearly inhaling his sandwich, she assumed he probably hadn't eaten very well. "Why don't we just have a seat for a second and you can finish eating before we head home."

They sat beside each other in the hospital chairs, while the faint sound of heart monitors beeped from down the hallway and doctors occasionally shuffling by with clipboard in their arms. "Tell me about your day."

She undid the button of her jacket and relaxed against him, looping her arm through his. "A young woman was found running down the street this morning, all bruised and battered, screaming and yelling that her husband had been murdered. We looked into the case and discovered that multiple domestic abuse complaints had been filed, but somehow the asshole had gotten off on each one. He was found on the floor of their bathroom, with his head in the toilet and a large gash on the back of his neck."

Andy finished his sandwich and she took the saran wrap from his hands and tucked it into her purse, listening closely. "We aren't sure whether she did it or not. She's been resilient ever since we first tried getting information from her. It doesn't help that she's in pretty bad shape herself."

Her hand massaged the sleeve of his jacket, in a soothing notion. Andy huffed and laced his fingers in hers. "I don't see why she's so afraid of him now that he's dead."

Virginia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Sometimes victims of domestic abuse see themselves being at fault. They fall in love with their abusers and can't recognize the abuse as not being out of love."

Her lip began to quiver before she stopped herself form going on. Her grip on his arm had gotten significantly tighter. He found it odd, but figured she'd probably seen a lot worse than he had. "If you're ready to go, grab you're your things and lets go home. I have a box full of baking ingredients in the back of the car that Provenza gave me to give to you. I think he's hinting at something…"

_AC_

"Virginia, honey… I need you to come pick me up from work."

She'd practically ran to answer the house phone when it rang, hoping it was Andy calling to tell her why he hadn't answered all his text messages. "Andy, what is it? Whats wrong? Why haven't you answered any of my texts? I've been worried sick!"

Her hand was held over her heart, clutching her shirt as she tried to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry, I've been running around all day. It turns out the idiot was having an affair and our victim didn't like the sound of that."

It still didn't quite explain to Virginia why he'd been unable to answer her messages, and the need to be picked up. "Okay, what does that have to do with me needing to pick you up? Are you hurt? Andy, did something happen?"

He knew he should have checked and double checked that someone had notified Virginia that he'd been hurt. It wasn't a huge deal, he was hardly hurt, but he knew she must have been stressing the whole time.

"When we told the girlfriend about the other one, she accused me of lying and flipped the table. It hit me in the head and I was knocked out for a few seconds, but I'm fine now."

She could tell by the way he was speaking that he wasn't telling her the whole story. He could hear her take in a sharp breath from the other end. He knew that he'd failed at making it sound like it wasn't a big deal. In all honesty, he knew he probably would have been fine driving home, but if she found out he'd done something like that, he'd never hear the end of it.

"Andy, of course I'll come pick you up. You don't even have to ask, but next time could you please find a way to notify me when you've entered a state of unconsciousness."

Andy sat outside the station, while he waited for Virginia. He'd had such a rough day with his suspect that he really didn't feel like being questioned all the way home.

She pulled up to the curve and he got into the passenger seat, shutting the door behind him. Before he could even speak, she had unbuckled her seat and was examining his forehead under the dome light of the car. "Where did it hit you?"

Her hand smoothed the side of his face as her knitted brown expressed her concern. "Somewhere on my forehead. It really doesn't matter now, I hardly feel a thing. Don't worry I put ice on it right away."

She bit her lip and nodded her head in approval. "Good."

She pouted her lip, teasing him. "So I don't have to kiss it better, then?"

He found it incredibly adorable and couldn't resist the opportunity. "Well, it wouldn't hurt."

She giggled and smoothed her fingers across his hairline before leaving a kiss where they'd traced. "All better?"

Andy couldn't help but grin. "Yes, thank you doctor."

She sat back in her seat, buckling back in before starting the car. A huge grin spread across her lips. He could be such a dork sometimes.

To Andy's relief she didn't speak of his incident earlier that day the rest of the way home, mostly talking about the new intern she was working with.

_ AC _

He wasn't sure where she was, but he thought he saw her take off down the hall. He assumed she'd be changing out of her work clothes like she usually did before or after dinner. He washed the dishes and put them away neatly, allowing her the time to herself. He was happy to have nights like this every once in a while where they could just have time alone at Andy'd finished, he peeked into their room and found it empty. His next thought was the porch. He tugged on his jacket and met her outside. It was a warm evening, but the breeze was sending shivers down his spine. "Whatcha doing out here, why don't you come inside."

She sat on the wooden stairs, hands were curled around her stomach, knees drawn up on the step. "Theres supposed to be a full moon tonight, I thought it'd be nice to come out and look."

He knew it was half truth. She always liked to sit outside when she had something on her mind. He joined her on the steps, wrapping his oversized LAPD jacket around her shoulders. She allowed her head to fall to his shoulder, smiling from the gesture. All he could think of was how radiant she looked underneath the stars with her hair falling naturally, not a streak of make-up. He constantly found himself in awe of how lucky he was to be with a woman so beautiful in every way. Her eyes held more depth than words that could ever be spoken. He knew for a fact he would be entirely satisfied with staring into them for the rest of his life.

His hands brushed her hair over her shoulder before kissing the crown of her head. "Whats bothering you, sweetheart?"

Her eyes were fixed on something in the sky, nothing particular as she sat silently next to him. He knew by the way her eyes were slightly squinted at the sky that there was something on her mind. "Want to talk?"

She turned her head, blinking at him before putting her thoughts to words. "I've just been thinking about that victim you've been telling me about, and one of the patients that came in today. I guess it just brought up some bad memories from the past."

As a doctor, it was understandable for her to have many bad experiences with patients, but it wasn't like Virginia to dwell on them.

"It wasn't like it was anything too serious. A woman came in because her husband had hit her over the head with a glass vase. It wasn't even my patient, but it affected me."

Andy sat quietly, running his hands through her hair, knowing exactly what calmed her. "She chose not to press charges. She told me that she was terrified he would hurt her again. She wouldn't even leave him!"

For a second she almost seemed angered by it, but her thoughts were coming from a place much deeper.

"I wanted to hug her and tell her I was sorry, but I couldn't. I couldn't even tell her what I felt and what I thought she should do. Andy I feel terrible, what if he does it again."

Tears were already brimming the corners of her eyes, when she looked over at him with fear and guilt. "Virginia, you can't blame yourself. I know that it must have been hard for you to deal with a situation like that, but you just need to let it go."

She couldn't see how she could let something like that go. No woman deserved to be beaten by someone that she trusts. "But Andy, I know how this works. He's manipulating her into staying with him. He's hurting her and she is too scared to say something. You have no idea what its like to feel hopeless like that. Like theres no where safe, even in the arms of someone who promises to take care of you."

A part of Andy wanted to end the conversation there before she became too upset, but this was completely out of the blue to him and he was starting to really worry about her. "That woman needs to get help; therapy. He doesn't love her, and no man who hurts the woman he claims to love, deserves any woman. It's so important to have a partner who cares about you, and considers your needs as a human being. He never understood me, or what I wanted."

He could feel his heart quicken from her confession. Andy felt nauseous just from the very thought of another man mistreating Virginia. "Who didn't understand you?"

By the way he responded, it showed he was nearly desperate in knowing who had hurt his Virginia, and by the way she was talking, it didn't sound like anything he was going to want to hear. The image of a man raising his hand to her, making her feel hopeless or afraid made his blood boil.

"The first boyfriend I had was very abusive toward me. I met him in medic school and at first he seemed like a really sweet guy. He thought I was smart and a sweet girl so we started dating. After a year, our fighting started to blow out of proportion and he would call me a manipulative bitch who didn't care about him or anyone else. He said I was heartless and I'd never find anyone else who could love me like he did. He made me feel worthless. I know it sounds stupid, but I was so vulnerable at the time and I stayed with him because I thought he was telling the truth. It must not be easy living with someone like me, so I just kept taking it."

Andy wanted so bad to sad say something, to curse or even make a disgusted face, but he let her continue, knowing this was important to her. Tears were streaming down her face, as she tried wiping them away with the sleeve of his jacket. "He was the first person who I thought cared about me. Who showed me any positive attention and I thought I really loved him, but he never did, now that I think about it. I don't think people like him have the ability to love."

She spoke through gritted teeth, as she sniffled back her tears. "I was single for so long after that because I didn't want to be in love if thats what it was. Or I was scared that I couldn't find a love better than that."

Her voice held so much emotion, Andy wasn't sure what to say or if he should speak at all. He gave his full attention, growing more and more saddened.

"I was young at the time, and no, it wasn't my fault, but I didn't know that there was so much better out there for me."

A sad smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, as she reached for his hand. "I didn't think there was a man like you, who could care for me the way you do."

Her words brought a sense of comfort to him, allowing Andy to relax in knowing that she felt safe with him. He squeezed her hand, not wanting her to push herself to share more than she'd felt comfortable. "Every woman deserves an Andy like you."

Pressing her forehead against his, she smoothed her fingers over his. She was okay with talking about it now. It was something she often thought of but hadn't in a long time. At least since before Andy and her had begun dating. It was a dark time for her, and she was happy it was something she'd moved on from.

"I'm not sure how Provenza would feel about a bunch of Andy's running around."

He chuckled and reached his arm around her, tucking her into him. "I'd have to bake extra cookies for him to compensate."

She was admittedly growing cold, the night air washing over her exposed neck, making her tremble against him. He felt her shivering and was reminded of how long she'd been out there. "Why don't we go back inside."

He stood from the step and held his hand out to help her up. She nodded silently and let him take her back inside the heated home. Once they were in the bedroom she returned his jacket, which lead to the removal of her blazer and silk blouse. His fingers traced the lines of her face, as she worked on his buttons. "Hey…" His voice was low and smoky against her neck, sending chills down her spine. "Try not to let it bother you." His lips sucked on the flesh below her ear, eliciting a soft moan from her. His voice, barely a whisper had an affect on her. Showing up to work the following day with a unexplained red marking on her neck didn't sound pleasant, but it felt too good to stop him. Without having to speak a word, his lips moved to hers and were captured in a searing kiss. There wasn't a single thing in the world that could make her heart race the way he did, or send her mind into a blur, forgetting every other thought. Not even hearts.

"I wanna take you somewhere."

His words, breathless and broken, confusing her in her stage of subconsciousness. "Wha.. Andy, it's nine o'clock."

He pulled back, long enough to find her green eyes looking back, curiously. "No, not tonight. We should go away somewhere this weekend. Like the beach."

She smiled. "I like the beach."

His fingers tugged on the straps on her bra. "Good, then its a date."